The present disclosure relates to non-volatile magnetic storage element and magnetic memory that perform information recording by spin injection magnetization reversal.
The dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which is a high-density recording memory capable of high-speed operation, is widely used as a random access memory in various kinds of information apparatus such as computers. However, the DRAM is a volatile memory, in which information is lost when the power supply is turned off. Therefore, it is desired to put into practical use a non-volatile memory that has performance equivalent to that of the DRAM and is free from the information loss. As a candidate for the non-volatile memory, a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) to record information based on the magnetization of a magnetic material is attracting attention and its development is being advanced.
The methods for recording of the MRAM include a method of reversing magnetization by a current magnetic field and a spin injection magnetization reversal method of causing magnetization reversal by injecting spin-polarized electrons directly into the recording layer as described in e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2004-193595. This method is attracting attention because the recording current can be made smaller as the element size becomes smaller.